Advice from the Masters: Cass Sunstein

Cass Sunstein is famous for many reasons, but my impressions of him come primarily from Richard Thaler’s book, Misbehaving. After describing Sunstein as a “rock star” and suggesting that “adding Cass to your research team is a bit like adding Lionel Messi to your pick-up soccer game,” Thaler talks about how fast Sunstein works.

I know plenty of fast writers, most of them journalists, but when someone describes a person who writes legal and economics articles as “fast,” it gets my attention. Most of the people do that kind of work write slowly and carefully. So, I went searching for a description of how Cass Sunstein works. Here’s what I found, from an article by Noah Charney in The Daily Beast.

“Most days I’ll mostly write from 9:30 until noon. There’ll be stops and starts, and I’ll typically go from one project to another, depending on how they’re going. At the moment I’m working on an article in the general area of behavioral economics and public policy. I’m also working on a magazine piece, on a very different issue. I like to go back and forth—if I’m stuck on one, I’ll jump to the other. I’m also working on my next book, which has nothing to do with my current one. I’ll turn to that if I feel something’s brewing there. Most mornings I’ll spend time on two or three different writing projects.”